Clarins UV Plus HP & Sunscreen and FDA

It's hard not to like this sunscreen, it is the best sunscreen I'd ever tried, but sadly the most expensive too. It cost around RM158 for 30ml, while my usual Biore Perfect Milk only cost <RM30 for the same volume.

The sample I got is the tinted version as my medium skin is too pigmented for the normal version. I think that is great that Clarins put into consideration of those with medium skin. Everybody knows how sunscreens gives off that undesirable white-cast. This sunscreen do that, but it does it in a good way.

As you can see, the white-cast doesn't look so bad at all, it's definitely tolerable and in overall instantly brightened up my skin.

But what really excites me about this sunscreen is its amazing formula. Unlike Biore Perfect Milk, Clarins UV Plus HP doesn't have alcohol-y smell and not as drying. It's slightly emollient which makes it very easy to apply and spread. But it doesn't makes my skin oily at the end of the day.

p/s:If you read the current FDA rules about sunscreen label, there's something about manufacturer would not be allowed to make sunscreen with SPF higher than SPF 50, because more than 50, the UVB protection is not much greater than SPF 50. So if you got sunscreen with SPF 85, the protection it gives is not much different with SPF 50.

There also a rule regarding the claim being waterproof and water-resistant, FDA if I'm not mistaken gonna ban companies from doing that claim because no sunscreen really actually do that. Most sunscreen is not effective after 2 hours plus and while swimming or sweating, I bet it gonna be rub off or coming off.

Read more here

Review: Shu Uemura UV Under Base Mousse

For swatch pictures of this product, click here.

I'd try to like to like this product, but I can't. It just doesn't work for me. To begin with, it have this too obvious white-cast that makes me look so grey, bet it would work better for those with fair skin. I'm so tanned that I think I'm around NC35 right now. I understand that this is due to its high SPF and PA value, so I thought, I can use this as sunscreen.

However, as sunscreen, this product doesn't cut it for crazy humid weather and people who sweat a lot like me. This product literally melt away from my face and that really defeat its purpose and makeup base and sunscreen.

I really wish that it works for me because of it light mousse texture. It might work for those who in air-conditioned room most of the time, or those living in colder weather. It bummed me that this amazing product doesn't work for me. It gotta be amazing to have a special collection consist mainly of it. D*mn you sweaty face!

Shu Uemura UV Under Base Mousse SPF30 PA+++ Samples Swatch

I finnaly received the Shu Uemura UV Under Base Mousse. If you read the post earlier about the Shu Uemura express makeover, you read about me complaining that the makeover make me look greyer.

I finally found the culprit. It's not the face powder, it's actually the base. It make sense since the product have pretty high SPF.

The sample is pretty generous. 30g each.

The product is in super light mousse form. I believe the sample I got is 'beige' version. There are also pink and BB beige. BB beige is the limited shade in Mika Ninagawa collection.

 

It's too early to write a review for this product. So I'm just gonna swatch it in this post.

Swatch w/o flash: I apply the base only at the left side. The white cast can be seen here.

It become more obvious with flash. So, basically, this product is not good if you're taking picture.

But the good thing is that, the area where the base applied look more even and smoother. I think I'm gonna reserved this as sunscreen for the day I'm playing volleyball.

Review: Clinique City Block Sheer 25 SPF

Dear Clinique, what's wrong with your sunscreen formulation? It's too oily and it pilling/ball up upon application. It might work for those living in colder climate, but, let me say this plain and straightforward, don't bother selling this thing in Malaysia, it's too humid and hot here.

More than that, why sell something with such a horrible formulation? Each time I put it on, it would ball up. This make it impossible to reapply without the fuss of brushing off the ball up sunscreen of my face.

Another thing that really make me unhappy about this product is the fact that it's oily despite the claim of being oil-free. I'd done the test checking the oil content, Revlon Colorstay pass with flying colors while this sunscreen fail miserably. There's just too much oil in it.
As you can see from the picture above, the product separates. It annoys me, but the good thing is that, I could remove most of the oil in this product by letting the oily phase of the separated product to flow out first. Doing this improve the product application significantly.
The product is tinted to reduce the white-ish look caused by the sunscreen, but the tint does not provide coverage. The scent of this product is typical of Clinique sunscreen. I dunno how to describe it. I think it's quite similar to Banana Boat sunscreen.

The only way to make this horrible product works is by mixing it with foundation. Foundation with will make the product stop from balling-up during application. But the suncreen would make the foundation a lil harder to blend. Well, I think that's a good compromise as I want to finish the product ASAP.

Not recommended and will never ever purchase the full size. Why would I, it's over priced for something that works terribly. Plus, it doesn't have UVA protection.

p/s: I think you can tell how much I hate this stuff.

Review: Clinique Superdefense SPF 25 Age Defense Moisturiser.

One thing I'm not fond of Clinique is their product long weird name. Instead of eye cream, it's All About Eyes. Instead of face moisturiser, it's Dramatically Different Moisturising Lotion, etc. Okay, enough with the rant, straight to the review.

I got a 7ml sample jar for this moisturiser with sunscreen last year. It's been almost 6 months since I last used this stuffs. Quite a long time, but I still remember a lot of things about this product.
The sample come in jar, just like the full size product (of course the packaging a lil different). It's not bad, but I would prefer squeeze tube over jar any day for sunscreen. I'm not into digging my finger into the jar. I'm not sure if the sample I got is for Dry/Combo skin or for Combo/Oily skin. The product itself is white color with creamy consistency, almost like cream on cake. I like the scent of this product, as a sunscreen, it smells really nice, I say, it smells like food. LOL.

7ml of the product last quite sometimes since a lil goes a long way. Of course, with sunscreen, you want to reapply every few hours if its possible. I give this product the most stringent test it could go for, an archery competition. The day was very sunny and hiding under the tent doesn't do much preventing exposure from UV light. I used this product on my face and reapply every 2 hours, that's about 3-4 times during the competition. My skin tone doesn't darken after the competition which tells you that the product actually works. I used it again during Rainforest World Music Festival, it's the kind of event where you want to stock up sunscreen. Basically, it works protecting my skin from harsh sunlight.

So, basically the product works. But I find it to be a too oily for my skin type and humid weather. Often I found the oiliness of this product causing my mascara to smudge like crazy causing great embarrassment. I end up using this on days I'm not wearing makeup.

Despite the greasiness/ oiliness, it doesn't cause my skin to break out. It moisturise pretty well (but too greasy for me) and protect from UVA and UVB ray. For the price, I would rather get sunscreen from Mentholatum or Biore which have better formulation and lower price. I think this product would work better for those with drier skin.

Edit: the greasiness is due to the very emolient properties of this product (thanks Jen). I read from other reviews, this product would be great for winter.